BusinessWeek Correspondent: “If You Serve the Press First, Then You Also Serve the Client”

Today’s Bulldog Reporter has an interview with BusinessWeek senior business correspondent David Kiley. Kiley also edits the publication’s “Brand New Day” and “AutoBeat” blogs. A former head of PR for an ad agency, Kiley says he can “see things from both sides…”

“My number one tip based on that background is to put yourself in the mindset of what the journalist needs, versus the knee-jerk reaction of what the client wants. If you serve the press first, then you also serve the client,” he told Bulldog Reporter’s Brian Pittman.

However, don’t just jump on the trend band wagon, pitching a reporter because he or she recently wrote about something relevant to your client. Says Kiley, “Google alerts are a great was to stay on top of what people are saying about your company or companies in your space, but you really don’t want to use them as a reason to email or pitch a blogger – or any reporter, for that matter. It makes me crazy when I just blogged on something and somebody sees my post because they subscribed to Google alerts on that category – and they immediately contact me about a pitch about how they fit into that same story. I get 387 emails a day and a lot of them are like this.”